Feds throw up uncertainty for Vineyard Wind project

Michael P. Norton, New Bedford Standard-Times

July 11, 2019 — Federal officials are not ready to issue an approval for the Vineyard Wind offshore power project, which may affect the project’s timeline.

Project officials late Wednesday announced that they had been informed by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) that “they are not yet prepared to issue” the final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the 800 megawatt project.

The schedule had called for a decision on the EIS by Friday, July 12. Project officials have long been planning to start construction on the 84-turbine installation in federal waters south of Martha’s Vineyard by the end of 2019, and become operational in 2021.

Asked whether federal officials had offered a new timeline for a decision on the EIS, a project official declined to comment.

“We understand that, as the first commercial scale offshore wind project in the U.S., the Vineyard Wind project will undergo extraordinary review before receiving approvals,” Vineyard Wind said in a statement on its website. “As with any project of this scale and complexity, changes to the schedule are anticipated. Vineyard Wind remains resolutely committed to working with BOEM to deliver the United States’ first utility-scale wind farm and its essential benefits – an abundant supply of cost-effective clean energy combined with enormous economic and job-creation opportunities.”

The Interior Department in April got a new secretary, David Bernhardt of Virginia, who had served in leadership roles at the department for nearly a decade.